Spokane Public Television, KSPS is joining forces with Eastern Washington University to hold several forums on the Vietnam War.
The forums have been planned to compliment the latest efforts by producer Ken Burns and his latest 18 hour series on the Vietnam War.
Organizers of the events explain that our Eastern Washington region is home to some 140 thousand veterans, many who served during the Asian conflict, as well as home to many Vietnamese exiles, and thousands who participated in Vietnam era protest.
KSPS Spokeswoman Sandra Kernerman says the effects of that war are still being felt in American society today. “The veterans themselves are still suffering from grievous health issues, and also before Vietnam, everybody accepted that what their government said, was true, and if there was a war going on, you went, and Vietnam was a paradigm shift of what people thought of their government.”
The first public forum event will be held Thursday afternoon on the EWU Campus. The participants will include several who served in the military at that time, as well as a Whitworth professor who has worked in studies related to social activism and protest. Kernerman said, “We are not just going to share anecdotes that fascinating to listen to war stories, but we would like to take it past that. What we are looking for is that personal spin, and who these people were when they went into the war and how it has informed the rest of their lives.”
The initial forum will be held Thursday from 2:30 to 4:30 Pm on the EWU campus in Showalter room 109. The second event is being planned for July, and in August the travelling version fo the Vietnam Veterans war memorial, the “Wall that Heals” will be on display at Mirabeau Meadows park in Spokane Valley.
